Thank for the great article, I followed your directions and re-partitioned my laptop's hard drive so I could install Ubuntu. The laptop is an IBM Thinkpad T41.

The partitioning step went just fine, so I proceeded to install Ubuntu. (version 6.x, Dapper Drake??) The installation went fine, and I rolled the dice and had it update my MBR rather than do it manually the way you described. This *appeared* to work fine, and I rebooted. Upon rebooting, I have the option to boot into Unbuntu, Ubuntu recover mode, Ubuntu memory test, and Windows XP. I tested going into XP first, to verify that everything on my Windows partition was working and it was. (whew)

However, when booting into either Ubuntu or Ubuntu recovery mode, the entire laptop hard-locks right away after it says, "Uncompressing Linux... Ok, booting the kernel". I have no idea why it's locking-up, but my first instinct is to wipe those partitions and try again. However, what I'm not sure is what to do with the MBR. How can I revert it back to the way it was? I assume if I format those new partitions that Grub will still load and ask me if I want to boot Unbuntu or Windows??